OAKS — Two energetic, ice cube loving dogs from the same family won the Top Dog contest this year by a landslide.

Zucch and Daisy Sheff are the 2013 Bark for Life Top Dogs. These two pups received 1,224 votes in the Top Dog contest this year, translating to $1,224 raised for the American Cancer Society, and their owners, Lory and John Sheff, are very proud.

Three-year-old Zucch, a golden retriever, and Daisy, an 8-year-old chocolate labrador, make a very energetic pair.

Zucch likes to play Frisbee and Daisy runs around with their neighbor dog. Lory Sheff said that when they see her suitcases out before a trip, they get excited and try to come with her.

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Both of them love ice cubes and sleeping in the Sheffs’ room at night.

“If I say ‘ice cubes,’ they get excited,” she said. “They like to chew them.”

Despite their shared interests, the dogs have their own unique beginnings in the Sheff home.

When the Sheffs went to pick up Zucch, he ran to a vegetable stand at the end of the driveway, and picked up a zucchini twice his size.

That is how Zucch got his name, John Sheff said.

The youngest in a litter of 12, the Sheffs picked up Daisy from a lab rescue. A man that John Sheff worked with told the couple about her. Because of her cleft nose and a white spot on her shoulder, the Sheffs said the breeder wanted to put her down. But Lory Sheff said she could not imagine putting a dog down because they have a white spot on their chest.

“I can’t imagine someone putting a dog down because they are a little different,” she said.

Early on, veterinarians were worried Daisy would have health problems because of her nose, but Lory Sheff said that the only issue she has is snoring loudly.

Lory Sheff said that her two dogs are caring and know when they are not feeling well. She said Zucch and Daisy will be very calm and lay next to them if they are sick.

This is the third year that Lory and John Sheff have participated in the Top Dog event, but last year their fundraising money went toward a teammate’s dog.

She said that Ian, the Top Dog winner last year, was diagnosed with canine cancer not long before the contest started.

“We all felt bad, and he deserved to win Top Dog,” she said about Ian.

Lory Sheff didn’t have much of a strategy for fund raising. She said that it was mostly friends, family and coworkers who donated.

John Sheff is retired, so he was able to pass out fliers during the day and speak to donors, drumming up the funds.

“A lot of people said they were good looking dogs,” he said.

They are both proud of their dogs of winning and grateful to those who donated.

Lory Sheff said she hopes her team can make it a three-peat next year and have the winning dog.

Top Dog will return again next March to raise funds for the Pottstown Bark For Life. All proceeds raised from the competition, which is hosted by Pottstown Bark for Life and The Pottstown Mercury, go directly to the American Cancer Society. The Top Dog competition raised a record $3,399 this year.